Abstract
Promoting the coordinated development of urbanization and eco-environment is essential for the development of urban agglomerations. As an emerging economic growth pole in China, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) has become a research hotspot in recent years. However, relevant studies in this area have been largely constrained by the incomparability of statistical data between the inland part of the GBA and the two Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macao) of the GBA. This study used nighttime light data and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) to evaluate the level of urbanization and eco-environment in the GBA, respectively. Then we adopted the gravity center model to analyze the overall coupling situation between urbanization and eco-environment change. We also adopted a coordination index to determine the spatial differentiation characteristics of this coupling in the GBA from 2000 to 2018. The results show that (1) the spatial pattern of urbanization and eco-environment both show an approximately circular structure, and the change rates of these two variables show significant spatiotemporal differentiation; (2) on the whole, urban development and eco-environment construction became more coupled in the GBA during 2000–2018, as indicated by the continuously decreasing distance between the gravity centers of urbanization and eco-environment; and (3) as for the spatial differentiation characteristic of this coupling, the GBA was generally dominated by slightly uncoupled units, while the spatial distribution of different coupling types transformed from a circular structure to a relatively random form.
Highlights
In the past few decades, China has experienced unprecedented urbanization and economic development
The results showed that the process of urbanization and eco-environment change in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) became increasingly coupled between 2000 and 2018, as indicated by the decreasing distance between the two gravity centers which both generally moved northwestward
The spatial pattern of coupling transformed from a circular structure to a more or less random form, which corresponded to the adjustment of policies and development paths in some cities in the GBA
Summary
In the past few decades, China has experienced unprecedented urbanization and economic development. Most studies of the GBA mainly focused on its function orientation [14,15], intra- and inter-regional relationships [16,17], and development strategies [18,19] but paid little attention to the coordinated development of its urbanization and eco-environment This lack of research may be partly due to the incomparability of statistics between the inland part of the GBA and the Hong Kong-Macao area. The nSuosrtaminaabilliitzye20d20d, 1i2ff, xeFrOeRnPcEeEvR eREgVeItEaWtion index (NDVI) is another widely used type of3roefm21ote sensing data in the study of socio-economic activities and environmental change It reflects the vegetation the city light dynamics in Syria during the civil war (2011–present), which effectively extended the growth statetmepaonrdal cvoevgeeratgaetioofnNcToLvdeartaa.ge, which can be used to effectively detect spatiotemporal patterns of above-grouTnhde vneogrmetaalitzieodnddifyfenreanmceicvse[g3e8ta,t3io9n].
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